A World Worth Protecting

1

If the sword handle could be described as gentle, the sword body that was buried in the sun could only be described as intense and violent!

In this world sheltered under the defensive barrier, the Sea of Fire was no longer crimson but black in color. This black Sea of Fire was far hotter than temperatures found on the sword handle. Wang Baole extended his senses slightly and was immediately alarmed. Based on his assessment… unless he relied on the Spirit Boat, he wouldn’t be able to survive in this Sea of Fire for more than half an hour.

<em>That’s just too terrifying! </em>Wang Baole gasped. He knew how strong his physical body was. As he stood reeling back from fear and shock, he noticed that the Sea of Fire didn’t only exist below him on land. There was another Sea of Fire in the skies as well!

It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the Sea of Fire beneath. However, the vast streams of molten lava flowing in the skies like wide rivers still made Wang Baole’s pupils contract. He gazed into the distance. Within this defensive barrier, everywhere his eyes could see, in the skies and on the land, fiery flames danced and spread. It felt as if he had descended into hell.

There were also many ruins and a great deal of broken stone. When he had first walked through the protective barrier, Wang Baole had seen what seemed like a small mountain of damaged pavilions in the distance. It had drifted past, in the lava. With a loud crash, it had collided with an unfamiliar, shattered statue fragment. The collision had sent the surrounding Sea of Fire erupting and splashing outwards. Waves of energy had appeared to send the skies and the land quaking. Even though Wang Baole had been standing quite a distance away, he had felt the heat of the fiery waves surging towards him. His hair even smelled charred.

Wang Baole, in his alarm, had hastily stepped back. He hadn’t advanced immediately but stood at the borders while adjusting to the temperature. He had monitored his surroundings. Gradually, he noticed not only remnants of pavilions but vast quantities of shattered mountain stones and rocks. He even saw a few bodies!

Most of the dead bodies were missing body parts. Amongst them were cultivators as well as something he had seen before in the Spirit Breath Village… members of the Never-Ending Clan.

He didn’t approach. However, he could tell that these bodies had nothing valuable on them. There were clear signs of them being searched. It was clear that many people from the Vast Expanse Dao Palace had come searching in the last years. Those who had managed to come here would be those with high levels of cultivation. They would have come in groups.

Wang Baole observed the area for two hours or so. When he was sure that his body had fully acclimated to the temperatures in the sword body, he focused his attention on his surroundings, remaining highly alert as he slowly flew further. He avoided the rivers of molten lava and made his way around those rivers. He kept a watchful eye as his surroundings changed, and as he searched for identity tokens or any other valuable items.

Time passed steadily. Eight hours soon went by as Wang Baole traveled slowly. His focus was on observing his surroundings and searching for valuable items. He hadn’t yet encountered any dangers that were beyond his capabilities. During these few hours’ of searching, he noticed that what the molten lava sea beneath him contained the most were islands after islands of pavilion ruins, damaged statues, and shattered mountain rocks.

It was as if everything that had existed here had been blown apart in a catastrophe. Even though the Sea of Fire covered many signs that pointed to a past battle, there was still an immense presence that remained that struck fear into Wang Baole’s heart.

There were areas which seemed absent of danger as well as rivers of fire. Wang Baole saw with his own eyes the sudden appearance of a black line in those areas. It sliced space into halves when it appeared, exposing a large tear from which a tornado churning heated air appeared and surged outward.

The tornado was extremely powerful. Should one be distracted momentarily and get in its way, one would definitely suffer grievous injuries. Wang Baole gasped as he increasingly felt how terrifying a place this was.

As he advanced carefully, Wang Baole saw mountain peaks in the sky. They floated in mid-air, their forms contorted. A few were even upside down.

Some of the mountain peaks were smooth and bare, others were covered in craters as if they had been hit by spells, while some of them had buildings on them. The buildings seemed to have been preserved rather well. However, Wang Baole dared not approach those mountain peaks. He could sense from afar, on those considerably pristine and well-preserved mountain peaks, a hex that made his muscles twitch and his heart race.

Wang Baole tried nudging an ordinary mountain rock over to test the power of the hex. As soon as the rock came into contact with the hex, it turned into dust instantly.

Wang Baole’s scalp began to prickle. He finally understood why acquiring an identity token could earn one so many battle credits. It was clear how difficult it was to find and obtain an identity token here. A huge part of it came down to one’s luck.

What he had seen weren’t the truly terrifying aspects of the sword body. After some thought, Wang Baole remained in the area for another couple of hours. He saw something that shook him to his very core.

He saw it with his own eyes. Before him had originally been a sea of molten lava, but after some powers drew him near, suddenly, an area that spanned a hundred yards blurred before his eyes. The next moment, it transformed and revealed a small island of shattered mountain rocks.

Such transformations seemed to follow no rules, and their timing couldn’t be predicted. After repeated observations, Wang Baole finally came to two conclusions. He concluded that the environment here changed constantly. Transformations that appeared to resemble instant teleportation would take place occasionally.

He also concluded that besides the unpredictable transformations, the Sea of Fire on land would occasionally collapse and sink downwards. The sea might also erupt without rhyme or reason, like a volcano. Following such eruptions, buildings and ruins that had been underwater might resurface.

Every time something like that happened, multiple spatial tears would occur in the nearby region. Sometimes, scorching tornadoes would even appear from those occurrences. The result was danger looming behind every corner in the entire region!

Wang Baole raised his guard in response and continued to summon Little Missy. After hearing nothing from her after a long while, Wang Baole started thinking about leaving. He wondered if he should gather a few more people and whether it might be wiser to conduct a group search instead. He planned to retrace his steps and leave. Just as he turned around and was about to leave, suddenly… the Sea of Fire on one side of him erupted without warning. It sent great streams of molten lava exploding in the air. Wang Baole dodged it instantly. He was about to go around the explosion when a strong sense of danger sent his eyes flashing. He lifted his right leg immediately and spun around like a top, sweeping his leg around and behind him!

There was a loud thunderous boom. Wang Baole saw a humanoid creature covered in flames flying back ten yards after suffering his kick.

<em>What is that thing? </em>Wang Baole’s pupils contracted. He had used his full strength with that kick. Despite that, it had only sent the humanoid figure stumbling back.

As Wang Baole’s eyes glanced past, the flaming humanoid creature opened its mouth, revealing the sharp teeth within. Its eyes were colored with violence and madness, and it charged at Wang Baole suddenly. As it approached, waves of scorching energy fanned out, then surged towards Wang Baole like a hurricane.

Wang Baole frowned. He had no idea what the creature was, but he sensed that he shouldn’t linger there any longer. His right hand formed a series of hand seals, and the tri-colored flying sword flew out instantly. It pierced the approaching, fiery humanoid creature, and sliced right through it!

The creature exploded with a loud boom. There was no blood or mutilated flesh, it only transformed into pieces of red-colored rocks that scattered and fell into the Sea of Fire.

Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. He didn’t pause in his tracks. With a single step, he continued to retrace his path and raced back. Hours later, he encountered two attacks from similar-looking creatures. Then, he finally saw the protective barrier in the distance, as well as the calm, gentle peace on the other side.

Just as he was about to pick up speed and dash out, a flicker of emotion flashed across his face suddenly. He pulled out a jade slip from his storage bracelet. It was vibrating violently. This was jade slip that allowed Federation Seedlings to communicate via the regional Spirit Internet.

One of the Federation Seedlings who represented the Senate was calling for help in the group chat!

“Is there anyone at the sword body? I’m trapped. Please, save me!”

Every one of the Federation Seedlings who had come to the Vast Expanse Dao Palace knew that they had to stand in unity. They could be said to be quite united. That was why when Wang Baole saw that message, he immediately stopped in his tracks.

The regional Spirit Internet within the jade slip had certain constraints on how far a transmission could travel. In theory, if everyone were within the same region, they would be able to view transmissions from one another. However, once one stepped out of that region, only those in the same region could receive his or her messages.

Currently, the chat group was completely silent, save for the lone cry for help coming from the Federation Seedling who was in danger. It continued to repeat itself, desperately and with despair.